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Summary of the impact

The multi-sensory, immersive exhibition `At Home in Japan', held at the
Geffrye Museum in London in 2011, enabled Western audiences (including the
public and school groups) to gain a better understanding of everyday life
inside contemporary urban Japanese homes, overturning deep- rooted
cultural stereotypes that continue to depict Japan as the quintessential,
exotic Other. Through this exhibition, Daniels' ethnographic research has
had a wide cultural and educational impact on multiple audiences,
enhancing their understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture, and
demonstrating the fallacy of the traditional minimalist stereotype with
which it is commonly associated. The reach and significance of this impact
is substantiated by the large numbers of visitors to the exhibition, the
majority of whom responded extremely positively to the experience; the
success of the schools' programme, community outreach workshops,
curatorial tours, and study days; and the extensive enthusiastic coverage
in traditional media and on the internet. Moreover, through its innovative
uses of photographs and objects, the exhibition has been able to take
museum practice in a new direction, encouraging in other museums similar
approaches to enriching visitor experiences.

Underpinning research

Inge Daniels' extensive ethnographic research undertaken in Japan (as
University Lecturer in Social Anthropology at Oxford since 2006) covers
various important topics within the anthropology of material and visual
culture, including: gift exchange; the commodification of religious forms;
the material culture of luck; amateur photographic practice; and the
anthropology of (domestic) space and the built environment. Two aspects of
Daniels' research have had particular impact on the public understanding
of Japanese culture.

1)The Japanese House: Material Culture in the Modern Home

In preparation for the publication of her academic monograph entitled The
Japanese House, [Section 3: R1] Daniels undertook a year of
field research in thirty urban homes in the Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto,
Kobe) during 2003, followed by a visual project carried out in the same
region in 2006. This research generated a large quantity of ethnographic
material, including visual and sound data, from which Daniels drew the
conclusions published in the monograph and elsewhere.[R1-R6]

Daniels' findings challenge widespread stereotypes about Japanese
aesthetics by revealing the messiness and contradictions of everyday
domestic life.[R1,R5,R6] This is the first academic study, based on
living for a prolonged period of time with Japanese families inside their
homes, to elucidate the implicit but interconnected logics of the use of
space and the use of material culture within the home. The Japanese
House shows how domestic practices change through the seasons and
how they have changed over time,[R1,R5] highlighting the importance
of backstage activities such as storage, cleaning, and bathing in the
reproduction of social life. The book highlights the impact of post-war
changes to the exterior, the layout, and the use of dwelling spaces, while
paying particular attention to domestic tensions as inhabitants strive to
balance the relationship between the individual and the collective, to
negotiate multiple connections between the home, the community, and the
state,[R1,R6] and to create beneficial alignments with spirits,
ancestors, and the material world.[R1,R2] More generally, Daniels'
research offers a model for studying the house worldwide that accounts for
both local specificity and common, cross-cultural human experiences.[R3,R4]

2)At Home in Japan — Beyond the Minimal House

This research and Daniels' previous ethnographic research in Japan (since
1996) led directly to Daniels' exhibition `At Home in Japan — Beyond the
Minimal House', held at the Geffrye Museum, London, from March 22 until
August 29, 2011. In particular, the specific ethnographic material, and
the visual and sound data used to produce the exhibition displays, stem
from her fieldwork in Kansai in 2003 and 2006. The exhibition draws on
these findings to explore how anthropologists and museum practitioners may
benefit from using innovative visual methods and representations, as well
as three-dimensional environments, to disseminate research results more
effectively to a wider audience.[R7]

Based on Daniels' ethnographic data the exhibit recreated a standard
Japanese flat [R6] that was filled with everyday objects donated
by participants in her research, while taped sounds and life- size
photographs taken inside the homes studied,[R1] as well as written
commentary by both Daniels and the Japanese participants, were employed to
evoke what it feels like to be at home in contemporary Japan. This
multi-modal approach does not treat culture and experience as text, but
creates an immersive space filled with everyday goods (instead of unique
iconic objects) that visitors can explore with all their senses.[R7]
Thus, people could put on slippers, look inside closets, open drawers, try
on clothing, sit on chairs and sofas, and generally pick up and handle any
of the objects used in the exhibition. Importantly, the exhibition did not
assume one mode of `passive' learning, but, by stressing complexity and
ambiguity, it challenged any totalizing view and aimed to foster a more
personal, intuitive understanding, thereby empowering both the audience
and those depicted.[R7]

References to the research

(*submitted as part of REF2)

[R1]* Daniels, I. 2010. The Japanese House: Material
Culture in the Modern Home. Berg.

Details of the impact

Daniels drew on her original ethnographic research in Japan to develop a
2D/3D model for communicating complex anthropological knowledge to
multiple audiences, in an effort to increase public understanding,
awareness, and appreciation of Japanese culture.[R7]The
Japanese House both advanced academic knowledge (see section 2) and,
served as the concept and the catalogue for the exhibition.[R1] As
testament to the public appeal of this book, to date 2,500 copies (210 in
the Museum shop) have been sold and the book was reprinted nine months
after it was first published. The exhibition (2011) had more than 12,000
visitors over six months and was accompanied by extensive school and local
community outreach programmes, craft workshops, curatorial tours led by
Daniels, and study days in which she participated.

Educational impact
The exhibition [R7] and its associated educational activities
have directly increased public knowledge, understanding, awareness and
appreciation of Japanese life and culture among individuals from a broad
range of ages and backgrounds, through various school, education and
community outreach programmes.

In total 235 young people attended these sessions (from 8 Primary
Schools, 1 Secondary School, 1 Higher Education College, and 1 Special
Educational Needs school). 374 people attended the Adult Education and
Learning programme, while eleven community outreach sessions were attended
by 242 participants, both adults and children. These programmes [C1,
C2] supported part of the secondary school curriculum for Geography
(QCA Unit 2) `What sort of homes do people live in today?' and (QCA Unit
22) `A contrasting locality overseas'. The Education Officer for Access
and Public Programmes at the Geffrye Museum commented that it was "a great
exhibition which was a joy to [design a] programme around, as it worked on
many levels for various different audiences. Not only was the content
[based on the research] fascinating, but the interactive re- creation of
the flat meant that people of all ages could engage with it."[C2,C3,C4]
Finally 1,478 children and 1,150 adults participated in 125 holiday
creative activities. In total, 2,628 people participated in educational
activities connected with this exhibition over its 6-month duration, which
compares favourably with the 803, 2,402, and 1,045 people who attended the
three previous temporary exhibition events (also of 6 months' duration) in
the same museum (see below for discussion of visitors' behaviour and
comments collected in a ethnographic study during the exhibition).[C5]

Museum audiences
As mentioned above, between June and August 2011, Daniels and two of her
MSc students, Laura Haapio-Kirk and Rosanna Blakeley, conducted an
ethnographic study of sixty visitors, who were selected at random to
evaluate and collect evidence of the impact of the exhibition. Their
interactions with the displays and each other were observed and recorded,
and they were then interviewed.[C5]

The study found that some participants were in search of knowledge (40%),
but more were driven by the pleasure of the unexpected (50%), while a
minority sought inspiration for their own homes (10%). Most importantly,
the study showed that the exhibition was successful in questioning
preconceptions about Japan. A British woman in her 70s admitted that
because of the war she held anti-Japanese sentiments but "The display of
everyday normal living made me feel that Japanese people are very similar
to us", while two British women in their 20s expected Japanese homes to be
"compartmentalized and ordered" but they actually found that they "looked
messy and normal". Of the 1,305 entries left in the visitors' book, only
23 were negative, representing overall an overwhelmingly positive
response.[C6]

Other comments, elicited in the ethnographic study,[C5]
demonstrated that the exhibition challenged preconceived stereotypes about
Japan. Typical examples were: "Fascinating. Totally different from the
stereotypical image. A real eye opener" and "Excellent exhibition of
contemporary Japanese people's houses and lives. Very precise and detailed
description of Japanese life. This contributes a lot to understanding
Japan." Finally, all Japanese participants (10% of total visitors) were
upbeat. In the words of a Japanese man in his 30s living in London: "The
exhibition shows Japanese lifestyle and not the stereotype. It is really
what the Japanese are like and not just what Westerners think they are
like."[C5]

When the exhibition closed, most objects were given away in a free raffle
attended by more than two hundred people and Daniels is currently
conducting a follow-up ethnographic study that investigates the direct
impact of some of these objects inside people's homes in the UK.
Ethnographic museums in Leiden, Stockholm, and Vancouver have expressed an
interest in hosting the show. In an updated version, Daniels will make
improvements suggested by visitors, such as enabling a more in-depth
engagement with the underpinning research through giving visitors the
opportunity to access additional information about specific objects
displayed through the use of mobile phones. Most participants were
positive about the interactive/immersive aspect of the exhibition. As an
American in her 30s explained: "One thing I really liked was that it was
extremely personal: I actually felt like I was in a Japanese film quite
often."[C7] The level of tactile interaction was influenced by
people's naturalisation into the `do not touch' philosophy adopted by most
museums, while the absence of clear instructions meant that many copied
others and those who had visited Japan or were Japanese frequently acted
as guides. In this manner the exhibition encouraged the transfer of
cultural knowledge and understanding between the researchers and those
attending the museum, and also between individual members of the
exhibition's audience.

Museum practitioners
To ensure that Daniels' research was fed back to museum practitioners, in
addition to publishing in the Bulletin of the National Museum of
Ethnology,[R7] she also presented these findings at
international conferences attended by curators at the British Museum
(2012), the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka (2013), and National
Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm (2013). The effect of this on those
attending is clear from a statement by the anthropologist responsible for
the European exhibition collections at the National Museum of Ethnology in
Osaka: "`At Home in Japan' offers museum practitioners a new model for
facilitating more subjective, immersive visitor engagements with
exhibition displays."[C9] As confirmed by the Head of Collections
and Exhibitions at the Geffrye Museum, "Amongst the many exhibitions I
have been involved in, this has been one of the most effective in taking
scholarly research and making it truly accessible and engaging to a wide
range of visitors, while also leaving a legacy for the future in terms of
enhancing our practice."[C8]

Media
As well as academic reviews, the exhibition had public reach through more
than one hundred articles in popular print media including The
Guardian, The Japan Times, the Telegraph (`top five
exhibitions in London'), the Evening Standard, and Time Out.
The exhibition was reviewed in a range of design and interiors magazines
such as ID Magazine, Styles, Interiors, and Blue
Print, which stated that "At Home in Japan certainly succeeds in its
mission to demystify the Japanese home and shatter our minimalist
preconceptions."[C10] Public exposure was also increased via the
exhibition featuring on various blogs. Several quotes include: "The
careful presentation made this a truly fascinating way to learn about
Japanese domestic culture" (Culture Wars Blog, 08.07.11); "I think
the exhibition fulfilled its aim completely. I felt so at home in the
exhibition, and so like I was really in Japan" (Haikugirl's Japan Blog,
17.07.2011); and "A number of strong similarities emerge in the ways
people behave at home which help the sense of empathy the exhibition tries
to create. The myth of minimalism [in Japan] is finally debunked" (British
Council Blog.[C11]

[C6] Visitors book from the `At Home in Japan' exhibition (held on
file) contains quotes commenting on their experiences of the exhibition
and how it affected them.

[C7] Interview transcript and recording from museum visitor and
recipient of a raffled museum object confirms her positive experience of
the exhibition and discusses the direct impact of what she learned about
the Japanese homes through using one of the objects in her daily home life
(held on file).

[C8] Letter from Head of Collections and Exhibitions, Geffrye
Museum (held on file), confirms the impact of the exhibition on museum
practice.

[C9] Letter from Professor of Anthropology responsible for
European Exhibitions at National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka (held on
file) confirms the impact of the exhibition on museum practice.